Fishing Reports

 

The fishing has really started to fire and with a lengthy period of moderately good weather and a long weekend thrown in, anglers are enjoying some awesome snapper fishing. One of our new clients has come out 4 times in 10 days! The area we have been hanging around in has produced bag limits for the boat on numerous occasions and the fish have been getting up to about 15 lb or so. On one occasion, with a boat limit of fish on board by 1:00pm we spent another hour or so catching and releasing snapper up to 5-6lb! Enough skiting - on to where and when. It is the top and bottom of the tide that is producing our best fishing. When you combine that time with the change of light (like sunset tonight) the fishing can be spectacular and can often carry on right through the slack water period. Even the middle of the day will fish well if you can get the tide at the right stage and park on top of some good sign. This is probably the most important aspect of getting good fish. You can’t catch them if you’re nowhere near them. So far as location goes, we are spending a fair bit of time in about 20m of water over broken shell and mud type seabeds. The worm beds in Whangaparaoa Bay have been slow but they typically start to fish really well in mid November and early December. Up towards Kawau Is in about 30m is working quite well, but you have to spend some time hunting down the bigger schools as this area is large and the fish move about rather than hold in one location, like they do on a reef. Behind Tiri, on the sand is a lot slower than we would have hoped for. We are having better success down towards the Noises and up around Kawau when we venture into this depth. The foul behind Tiri has been producing smaller fish but lots of them. Every now and then a good snapper will appear from Shag rock or the 2 reefs to the south. There is a lot of foul out here and a good sounder is essential for locating the schools that tend to hold on this foul. The Tiri passage is producing some nice fish but the big tides this past week have made it a bit harder for some anglers to cope with the heavier weight required just to put a bait near the bottom. The wind against tide here can make things more uncomfortable and often your fishing time is reduced. Some how this is all forgotten when you are catching a fish on every bait though. The edges of the channel are fishing well as are both ends, out on the sand. There are a few cables in the area and we have witnessed a number of boats trying flip themselves by attempting to lift them to the surface. The Telecom cable area is an area to avoid and is clearly marked on the chart. We have had a few excellent days in a row just out from Gulf Harbour on a patch of worm beds. Anglers are delighted not to have to steam for an hour or so and can enjoy good fishing only minutes from the marina. One client came into the wheelhouse and asked if everything was OK as we had stopped to fish in sight of the marina! I told him everything was just fine. He ended up with a bag limit of snapper and the heaviest of the trip. Down towards Long Bay and even further down the North Shore, the 15- 20m mark is fishing well but there are a lot of smaller fish still and it may take a few more weeks before it improves. We often head down this way in a howling south westerly, when the clients are still keen to go. It’s usually with mixed results but we get the odd surprise too. There are a lot of estuaries and creeks flowing out through this area and we have picked up a few school sharks and the odd kingi from out in front of the Wade and Oakura Rivers. Make sure you observe the rules of the marine reserve at Long Bay if fishing this area. The roaring southerly we had the other day has chilled the action off a bit and yesterday we only landed about 30 table fish for a 6 hour trip. Nothing of any notable size, in fact most were 30cm females with a belly full of very soft roe. Not many males in yesterdays catch but we also landed a few kahawai for the smoke house. Our bookings are starting to increase now so it’s a good time to organise your work mates and friends for a trip out. Book the boat for yourselves from only $450 for a group of 12 midweek and only $550 for the group on weekends and holidays. Casuals are also most welcome as we have a huge casual list and can organise a spur of the moment trip on most occasions. Speaking of casuals, a special thank you to those of you who sailed with us over the long weekend, after a booked trip cancelled. Their loss was certainly your gain, as we enjoyed some of the best fishing of the year. The summer newsletter is nearing completion and the casuals list is growing. If you want to be part of it just email us at deepsea@kiwinet.net.nz or give us a bell on 09 4260604 or 025 2446346 and leave us your number and address. FISH ON! Damian Clayton THE CHARTER CONNECTION LTD

 

From A Charter Connection...

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 26 October 01